The loyal Disney fans are not unjustly mad at Disney for trying to resurrect Walt Disney himself. Or there would have been an eruption of criticisms from all quarters, many of which say the robotic Walt Disney does not look remotely like the fabled founder. And honestly, they do have a point.
The tweet said, “It looks nothing like him,” with a picture of the animatronic Walt Disney attached to it. Reply comments were brutal in the account of those who thought so. There were comparisons to Tom Hanks as Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks, to Walter Matthau’s Mr. Wilson in Dennis the Menace, and one line jokingly said, “Is that Stalin?” Ouch.
Now, really: How did Disney really manage to screw up this badly? They have loads of photos and videos of Walt ranging from his youth through to his death, yet this manikin has strange proportions for a bunch of features ranging from eyebrow down to cheek. One user, Oldmangames, went into immense detail with the flaws: “Thinner eyebrows, more relaxed and smaller cheeks, bigger forehead, bigger and more relaxed eyes.” Basically, it’s like there was a reference photo that just… got ignored.
Some tried to put up a defense for the design, saying Disney, for ethical reasons, probably didn’t want it to be too realistic. Kurtis Boekenhauer added, “Maybe being more of a caricature helps disassociate from the moral question of should we reanimate this man and his likeness?” Which might be a fair point—but in that case they absolutely should have made it *look good*.
Others got in and said it shouldn’t even get the benefit of the doubt. Paul_M_Carver declared, “They knew it didn’t look good and they still went with it. They don’t care about Walt.” Now, in all honesty, the number of dollars they poured into these animatronics (I’m talking to you, Tiana) gives you every reason to expect a higher quality effort here.
The jokes kept coming. Others said it looked like a “pillow salesman,” while somebody else said it was made from “fleshlight material.” Yikes. Even the more neutral comments said, “It’s close enough…geez,” which really isn’t a compliment.
So, what’s up? Did Disney rush this? Is that supposed to be some artistic style? Or did they just have no idea where to start? Well, whatever it was, the reception was downright negative. Considering that Disney has so successfully run animatronics in the past (hello, Rise of the Resistance), this is one of the few occasions when they really stepped on it.
By this point, maybe they should have stuck with the holograms. Or, you know, just let the man rest in peace.
Well, if you came to Disney expecting to witness a lifelike Walt, you might want to curb those expectations just a little. Because this animatronic is either a fright or a comedy right now.
